
Class " "TP'S'V-O 

Book .. __ 

Copyright^ - . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



FACTS ABOUT 

PEAT 

PEAT FUEL AND PEAT COKE 



FACTS ABOUT 

PEAT 

PEAT FUEL AND PEAT COKE 



HOW TO MAKE IT AND HOW TO 

USE IT— WHAT IT COSTS AND 

WHAT IT IS WORTH 

WITH BRIEF NOTES CONCERNING ITS USE AND 
VALUE FOR NUMEROUS OTHER PURPOSES 



By T. H. LEAVITT i 
M 

ILL US TEAMED 



' ' > ) > ) ) 



) » . J > 





■== 



BOSTON- 
LEE AND SHEPARD 
1904 






LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Tw» Copies Received 

FEB 12 1904 

CLASS a~ XXc. Mo, 
' €OPY 8 



V 



Copyright, 1904, by Lee and Shepard, 

Published January, 1904. 



All RighU Reserved. 



Facts about Peat. 



J. S. Cushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



w 9* 



PREFACE 

Yeabs ago I operated works at Lexington, 
Massachusetts, for the manufacture of peat 
fuel, and for the perfecting of machinery for its 
production, in which I was successful. 

During that time I prepared a volume of up- 
wards of three hundred pages, entitled " Facts 
about Peat " — probably the most exhaustive 
treatise upon the subject which has been pub- 
lished. 

It was published by Lee & Shepard, and 
passed through several editions, but is now out 
of print, the plates having been destroyed by 
fire. 

In the recent revival of interest in the peat- 
fuel question, which is very apparent, the de- 
mand for this book, which, of course, cannot be 
satisfied, has been considerable. 

The present volume, therefore, under the 
same title, is prepared as a substitute for that, 

5 



6 PREFACE 

with a view to affording information of a 
practical character to parties proposing to 
manufacture or use the fuel. 

In order to give some indication of the 
importance attached to the subject by practical 
men, the reliability of the "Facts" presented 
in my former volume and reproduced with 
additional and more recent data in this, the 
value of the material in its crude state, its 
largely increased value when manufactured 
and put in merchantable condition, the methods 
by which it can be put in that condition and 
its superior fitness for certain classes of ser- 
vice, I shall give in an Appendix quotations 
from a few of a multitude of opinions ex- 
pressed by the press and by practical men 
who have carefully and thoroughly investi- 
gated the whole subject, which may be of no 
less interest than the facts and data which are 
given in the body of the work. 

T. H. LEAVITT, 

735 Old South Block, Boston. 
January, 1904. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

What is Peat? 11 

Where Peat is found 14 

How to make Peat Fuel 18 

Peat Coke 42 

Intensity of Heat generated by Peat Fuel 51 

Peat Fuel for Domestic Purposes 53 

Peat as a Fuel for generating Steam . 56 

Peat in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel 63 

Other Uses of Peat Fuel 67 

Peat for Gunpowder and Fireworks . . 68 

Gas from Peat 70 

Cost and Market Value of Peat Fuel . 72 

The Market for Peat Fuel .... 74 

Chemical Products of Peat 77 

Ashes of Peat 78 

Conclusions 79 

Antiseptic Properties of Peat ... 82 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Peat as a Disinfectant and Deodorizing 

Agent 83 

Other Uses for Peat 84 

Peat as a Fertilizer 86 

Peat-moss Litter 88 

Mixed Fuels 89 

Caution and Encouragement . . . .92 
What shall we do about it? . . . .96 

Appendix , 97 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Following page 96 

A Peat Bog. 

Peat Slane of the Older Style — 1760. 
Peat Slane of Modern Style. 
Dobson's Peat Briquetting Press. 
Pressed Peat Fuel fresh from the Press. 
y The Same, after Handling and Transportation. 
Dickson's Peat Briquetting Press. 
Leavitt's Peat Works at Lexington, Mass. 
Leavitt's Peat Condensing and Moulding Mills 

as First Built — 1870. 
The Same as Improved. 
The Same as Perfected. 
Coke Works. 
Coke Ovens. 
Peat Fuel (condensed). 
Peat Coke. 

9 



FACTS ABOUT PEAT 



>XKo~ 



The prime object of this book is to in- 
vite attention to the matter of Peat Fuel, 
— what it is ; where it may be found ; how 
to manufacture it ; how to use it ; what it 
costs, and what it is worth ; and to offer 
such facts and information, derived from my 
own experience and observation during a 
series of years, with other data from trust- 
worthy authorities, as may be of practical 
interest to every one who has use for fuel 
of any kind, for any purpose. 

WHAT IS PEAT? 

Peat is decomposed vegetable matter, 
the moist, spongy substance, the accumula- 
tion of ages, found in almost every country 

11 



12 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

in the temperate zone, filling cavities in the 
surface of the earth and constituting what 
is generally called " bog." 

It is a curious substance, possessing pecu- 
liarities of very interesting character. It is 
composed of vegetable matters, generally 
mosses, grasses, rushes, and various aquatic 
plants in different stages of decomposition ; 
is exceedingly elastic, possessing, in this 
respect, some of the characteristics of India 
rubber or gutta percha, and is remarkably 
tenacious of water, — a fact which will, to 
some extent, account for the impossibility 
of reducing it, by pressure alone, to a solid, 
dry substance. 

It differs much in different localities in 
composition and in actual value for fuel 
purposes, — some deposits yielding a prod- 
uct comparable, perhaps, to pine wood, while 
others may grade to compare with birch, 
oak, and the best of hickory. It varies in 
color from light brown to black, and in con- 



WHAT IS PEAT? 13 

sistency from that of bran mash to that of 
clay in the bank. 

A writer in " The New American Cyclo- 
paedia " says, " Dense, compact peat appears 
to represent the first step in the progressive 
changes from vegetable substances to min- 
eral coal." 

Sir James Hall says, "I have always 
looked upon the peat of the Old World as 
one of the principal sources of our coal." 

Dana says, "Peat is sometimes entirely 
converted into coal." 



WHERE PEAT IS FOUND 

The deposits of peat in the Old World 
are widespread, numerous, and extensive; 
and in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, France, 
Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Aus- 
tria, Russia, and elsewhere, peat fuel is 
being used and has, for many years, been 
used to an extent and for a variety of pur- 
poses of which few in our country have any 
adequate knowledge or conception; and 
the universal verdict concerning its use- 
fulness and value is such as to stimulate 
and warrant the production and use of it 
with us. 

Our own government, in a recent Con- 
sular Report, has given a good deal of 
information concerning the extent of de- 
posits, methods of manufacture, and uses to 
which it is put in foreign lands ; the editors 

14 



WHEBE PEAT 18 FOUND 15 

remarking that "the use of peat is not 
without its industrial significance. The 
suggestion of its more extended use is prac- 
tically interesting and in direct line with 
the best modern practice in the economical 
utilization of natural resources." 

In our own country the deposits of peat 
are numerous, extensive, and in quantity 
simply enormous. New England is full of 
it ; the deposits in the middle, western, and 
northwestern states and in Canada are im- 
mense ; Mexico has rich and extensive store 
of it. The extensive tula marshes of Cali- 
fornia appear, so far as we learn, to be iden- 
tical with peat; they abound in some 
sections of the state. It is understood that 
our government has instituted explorations 
and inquiries concerning these marshes, the 
result of which will doubtless be made pub- 
lic in due time. 

Professor Lyell says, " It has seldom, if 
ever, been discovered in the tropics." Dar- 



16 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

win states that "in the southern hemi- 
sphere peat does not occur nearer to the 
equator than latitude 45 degrees." 

The extent, depth, and quality of peat 
deposits vary considerably, and seem to 
depend upon circumstances and conditions 
quite distinct from each other. Some cover 
only a few acres, while others are many 
miles in extent. The depth varies quite as 
much, say from one to twenty feet, though 
not a few are reported to be thirty, fifty, 
and even eighty or more feet in depth ; but 
an average depth of what may be consid- 
ered our peat regions, would probably be 
somewhere from six to twelve feet. 

The geological reports of the several 
states and Canada afford much valuable 
information concerning location, extent, 
and quality of peat deposits. 

The composition, density, and quality of 
peat varies with the position in which it is 
found 5 the vegetation or organic substances 



WHERE PEAT IS FOUND 17 

from which, in different localities, it had 
its origin; the character and temperature 
of the locality and atmosphere ; the propor- 
tion of earthy and mineral matter which it 
contains; and occasional minor peculiari- 
ties incident to locality and surroundings. 

The manufactured fuel produced from 
the various kinds of peat must, therefore, 
differ in quality and characteristics, and 
consequently in heating qualities and value, 
fully as much as wood and coal in all their 
varieties. 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 

That peat has been used for fuel in some 
parts of the world for centuries is well 
known, and, incidentally, mention is made 
of it by some of the earliest writers whose 
works are extant. 

By some it was used in its crude state, 
as cut from the bog and dried in the open 
air ; by others it was treated by various 
rude methods, formed into blocks, and dried 
in the open air. In more recent years, 
while these same methods have been con- 
tinued in communities and regions where 
the habits and customs of olden times pre- 
vail, the spirit of enterprise and improve- 
ment has found illustration in numerous 
attempts to manufacture and solidify peat 
in such a manner as to produce a merchant- 
able article of fuel. 

18 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 19 

Its more extensive use has steadily 
increased during the last two centuries, 
especially during the last half of the 
last century. 

The earliest efforts appear to have been 
directed to machinery and apparatus for 
excavating, dredging, raising, and trans- 
porting the material from the bog and 
spreading it upon the ground to dry, 
and in this a good degree of success was 
attained. 

Numerous methods have been devised 
and much machinery, some of it very cum- 
bersome and expensive, has been built, for 
the purpose of cutting and excavating and 
delivering the peat from the bog to the 
factory. Although I have seen not a few 
of these in operation and learned of others, 
my own experience, confirmed by the testi- 
mony of others and by the observation of 
those who have had opportunities to see 
and investigate where I have not, is that 



20 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

for cutting peat in this country there is 
no better machine than the simple slane, 
in the hands of a stout, good-natured 
Irishman, well treated and fairly paid. 
Such a " machine" will easily cut fifty 
tons of crude peat per day of ten hours. 
This statement has been occasionally ques- 
tioned, but the fact remains nevertheless. 

It is evident, however, that in order to 
work a bog which is entirely submerged 
with water and cannot be drained, or which 
is saturated with water to such an extent 
that it will not retain its form when cut 
out in the ordinary manner, dredging must 
needs be resorted to. 

As an essential quality of peat in rela- 
tion to its value for fuel is its density, 
attention was directed to solidifying it, 
and numerous efforts were made and vari- 
ous processes attempted by which, first, 
to expel the large percentage of water 
contained in it, and then to give it a 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 21 

degree of solidity equal or approximating 
to that of hard coal; sufficient, not only 
for ordinary domestic purposes, but suffi- 
cient to stand the blast required for a very 
high degree of heat in the more severe 
processes of metal manufacture and steam 
service. 

The multitude of attempts to solidify 
peat for fuel may all be classed under two 
heads, — pressing and condensing. 

The earliest mention we find of its use 
for fuel shows that it was excavated in 
blocks, exposed to dry in the open air, 
and used without further treatment; later, 
it was excavated, trodden by the feet or 
macerated by other means into a plastic 
mass, formed by hand into balls or blocks 
of any size, and exposed to dry as before. 
This treatment, in various ways but sub- 
stantially the same, yielded a fuel much 
preferable to the other, as in its crude 
state it was exceedingly friable, and much 



22 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

of it was light and porous of texture. 
Efforts in various directions continued to 
be made to produce a still more perfect 
and marketable fuel. 

The tenacity of peat for the water con- 
tained in its composition is remarkable, as 
has been before stated, and is one of the 
chief difficulties encountered in reducing 
it to the desired shape and condition for 
fuel. To rid it of all or a portion of 
this water, all manner of mechanical de- 
vices have been built and tested, but with- 
out avail. Evaporation would accomplish 
it in time, but the idea prevailed that it 
could be successfully done by pressure, and 
although repeatedly demonstrated to be 
impracticable, it has been, and still is, the 
subject of study and frequent invention. 

Without attempting to enumerate or 
describe the various methods devised, 
presses built, and tests and experiments 
made, in a long series of years, to accom- 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 23 

plish this, the following, abridged from the 
report of the Ontario Bureau of Mines, 
Bulletin 5, for 1903, may suffice as illustra- 
tive of all : — 

" Countless attempts have been made to 
expel mechanically the water from crude 
peat by pressure, filtration, or centrifugal 
force, all applied in a multitude of ways, 
— but so far these attempts have invari- 
ably ended in failure. 

"At the Trent Valley (Canada) Peat 
Works, hydraulic presses built for the 
purpose at Syracuse, New York, capable, 
it is stated, of exerting a pressure of three 
hundred tons, or two tons per square inch, 
were employed, the peat being loaded on 
trucks in layers between perforated trays 
overlaid with filter cloths, and in this 
manner submitted to pressure. Nineteen 
pressings were made in ten hours ; the 
output being 14.42 tons per press." 

There were eleven sample lots, and the 



24 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

result of each sample was given, but may 
be summarized by the following averages: — 

Water contained on entering the press, 
77.71 per cent; displaced by pressure, 14.23 
per cent; remaining after pressure, 63.48 
per cent. 

This peat was then " put through a dis- 
integrator and then through a drying ma- 
chine built by F. D. Cummer & Son of 
Cleveland, Ohio, a well-known machine 
containing a long rotary cylinder, many 
of which are in use for drying materials 
other than peat. Its evaporative power 
proved to be six thousand pounds of water 
per hour, and the output of dried peat 
three tons per hour. Eleven samples, 
averaging 63.48 per cent of water before 
entering the dryer, contained, on leaving 
it, 23.41 per cent, showing a reduction of 
40.07 per cent. The temperature was 
965° to 980° F." 

"The most momentous experiments on 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 25 

this line were carried on for a number of 
years at Dusseldorf, Germany, with a 
patent hydraulic filter press. Unlimited 
capital was available, and the expenditures 
amounted to about $100,000. Every 
idea which appeared feasible received a 
thorough trial, so that, if at all possible, 
the aim of the process might be accom- 
plished; but all in vain. The attempt 
has recently been abandoned as impracti- 
cable. It was contended that this press 
would bring the peat down to contain 
about fifty per cent of water, but it proved 
difficult to reduce the water even to sixty- 
six per cent." 

The result of every one of the multitude 
of experiments and operations in the same 
line during the last fifty years in this 
country and in Europe has been of like 
character as in the two cases here narrated. 
In like manner the impression has 
seemed to prevail during all these years 



26 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

that peat could best be solidified and put 
in shape for marketable fuel by pressure, 
and the aim has been so to handle and 
treat it that it should come from the ma- 
chine a finished dry article. 

In order to do this the crude peat must 
be dried before being submitted to the 
press. This is ordinarily accomplished 
by harrowing and raking the surface of 
the bog (after first removing the undecom- 
posed vegetation overlying the peat) and 
thus exposing a thin layer of peat to the 
action of the wind and sun, reducing, by 
this means, the amount of moisture to 
perhaps forty or fifty per cent, after 
which it is submitted to the dryer, where 
it is claimed that it can be still further 
reduced to about ten to fifteen per cent 
of moisture; and in this condition it is 
submitted to the press. 

Peats differ in composition, quality, and 
fitness for manufactured fuel as much as do 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 27 

woods. Pure moss peats are invariably 
good, but from light and inferior qualities 
a fairly good fuel may be produced. 

Of presses, an infinite variety of all 
shapes and kinds have been built, both in 
Europe and in this country, from early days 
to the present time, notably during the last 
fifty years, for the purpose of solidifying 
peat and producing the long-sought fuel 
in its perfection; but without avail. 

The earliest presses of which we have 
record were very simple in construction, 
and although powerful, failed of the suc- 
cessful results desired and anticipated. Ob- 
stacles and hindrances were encountered 
and as often sought to be met by changes 
and improvements in machinery, until at 
present peat presses of splendid workman- 
ship, marvellous power, and perfection in 
every detail are built and operated in this 
country, and are producing in briquette 
form, in moderate quantity, what appears 



28 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

to be a very handsome article of fuel, but 
lacking still the element desired and antici- 
pated by their projectors, which would 
entitle it to be pronounced a perfect suc- 
cess; and this, simply because the charac- 
ter and peculiarities of the material do not 
seem to be understood, and the general 
principles of its treatment have not been 
adapted to produce the result desired, and 
therefore cannot by any possibility succeed. 
Not one of these machines or methods of 
pressure has proved other than partially 
practically and economically successful. 
The failures in Europe appear to be charge- 
able to the same causes as in this country, 
and in both, large, and in some cases very 
large, sums of money have been expended. 

The most notable success in producing 
peat fuel by pressure in this country has 
doubtless been in Canada, where the " fuel 
question " may be said to be of even more 
importance as regards the uncertainty of 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 29 

supply than with us of the States. The 
possibility and desirability of utilizing their 
deposits of peat, which are numerous and 
extensive, and are understood to be gener- 
ally of good quality, has for many years 
engaged the attention of enterprising men 
of means and of mechanical ability, whose 
persistent and long-continued efforts have 
been the subject of government investiga- 
tion and encouragement, as indicated by 
official reports during the last twelve years 
relating to peat fuel, its manufacture and 
use. 

As early as 1891 the Canadian govern- 
ment reports contained a pretty full review 
of the doings and progress of the peat in- 
dustry in both Europe and America, includ- 
ing Canada. The reports of subsequent 
years have furnished much additional infor- 
mation; a recent Bulletin of the Bureau of 
Mines, Ontario, presents "a summary of 
the existing conditions of the peat-fuel 



30 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

manufacture in Ontario, and the prospect 
which it holds out of affording relief from 
a well-nigh intolerable situation." It treats 
of "the value and use of peat and the pro- 
cesses employed for the manufacturing it 
for that purpose; this being the aspect of 
the subject which confers upon it pressing, 
if not vital, importance." 

The processes and machinery in use in 
Canada and the results there obtained may 
therefore be taken as illustrative of the 
progress attained in the enterprise in this 
country so far as pressing is concerned ; 
for the Canadian methods and machinery 
have apparently found favor in the States 
with some who are ready and anxious 
to try to produce the fuel by this means. 

It is not claimed that all the difficulties 
have been surmounted, but a good fuel has 
been produced in considerable quantities. 

The machinery and processes in use in 
Europe differ somewhat from those in use 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 31 

in this country, but involve the use of severe 
pressure for solidifying and briquetting the 
material. The London Mechanics Magazine, 
in an article of some length on the use of 
peat fuel, says, " Mere compression of peat 
is not sufficient to insure its economical 
use ; it requires condensation, which quality 
cannot be imparted to it by the most 
powerful pressure." 

Notwithstanding the number and variety 
of presses built in this country and the 
amount of money expended, it may be 
remarked that really there has been no 
actual advance gained for many years. 
Machines for compressing peat, similar to 
those now in use in various places, were 
constructed and operated as much as 
thirty-five or forty years ago; but while 
numerous improvements in the mechanism 
and manner of operation have been made, 
the principle involved being erroneous, the 
result desired has not been and cannot be 



32 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

attained. The plastic and adhesive proper- 
ties of the material, necessary to produce a 
compact and enduring mass, are not only 
not developed, but are actually destroyed, 
and the particles composing the block of 
fuel are held together only by force of 
compact or pressure, the effect of which 
yields alike to fire and water. Fire 
disintegrates it, and water dissolves it. 
Handling and transportation tend to crum- 
ble it. The power required is enormous, 
the cost of plant is very large, and the 
product, though not without merit for 
some purposes, is seriously lacking in some 
qualities essential to a perfect fuel. 

That the peat must be rid of its water, 
and dry at some time, is evident. It can- 
not be successfully and perfectly done 
before being blocked; it can be done after 
blocking. The difference in time required 
for this, take the season through, is in 
favor of drying after blocking. 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 33 

The peat as prepared for the briquetting 
press, although called dry, is said to contain, 
ordinarily, from ten to fifteen per cent of 
moisture. The briquettes, as they come 
from the press, are in good form, solid and 
hard, burn freely, affording a pleasant fire 
and intense heat. In handling and trans- 
porting they are liable to crumble from 
the corners and edges, but the material 
is clean, emitting no noxious gas and 
possessing nothing of the character of 
crock or soot. They require only a light 
draft, and should not be poked or disturbed, 
as they are liable to disintegrate and fall to 
pieces. 

As the material when placed under 
pressure contains some moisture, as above, 
it is readily seen that as that moisture 
evaporates, whether by the slow process 
of exposure to the atmosphere or the more 
sudden and rapid heat of combustion, 
which expands the moisture, it must result 



34 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

in disintegration as above, there being no 
cohesion of the particles forming a block 
except by force of compact. 

Professor Johnson remarks concerning 
the dry-pressing process : " Its disadvan- 
tages are that it requires a large outlay 
of capital and great expenditure of me- 
chanical force. Its product is, moreover, 
not adapted for coking. When wet, the 
surface of the cake swells up and exfoli- 
ates as far as the water has penetrated. 
In the fire a similar breaking away of 
the surface takes place, and when coked 
the coal is but moderately coherent." 

Mr. James Lang, a well-known mechan- 
ical engineer, who was sent by capitalists 
to Toronto to report upon the manufac- 
ture of peat fuel, says : " During the sum- 
mer of this year (1902) I had occasion 
to visit the peat factories at Beaverton 
and Welland for the purpose of investi- 
gating the process and reporting on the 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 35 

cost of manufacturing peat fuel. I en- 
tered upon the investigation with grave 
misgivings as to the practicability of 
manufacturing upon a paying basis, but 
the successful working of the Beaverton 
plant was a revelation to me. The new 
machinery designed and introduced by 
Mr. Dobson, of that town, has revolution- 
ized the industry and made it possible to 
place peat fuel upon the Canadian market 
at a price which will compete success- 
fully with coal. There is, undoubtedly, a 
great future for peat fuel in this country, 
and I have no doubt we are on the 
eve of an immense development of the 
industry." 

Of one of the presses now in use in 
Ontario, the government report remarks : 
" One difficulty in operating this style of 
press satisfactorily has proven to be the 
excessive consumption of power, . . . eight 
tons per square inch. . . . The end of this 



36 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

severe duty is usually a broken die or a 
ripped or cracked gear wheel." 

Of another, apparently the one now 
most in favor and in use, the same re- 
port says : " One of these presses worked 
successfully during the summer of 1901, 
and, with some important improvements, 
during the summer of 1902, making 
about 600 tons of briquettes each season. 
Friction is almost entirely eliminated. . . . 
It is estimated that the total pressure 
exerted . . . amounts to 12^ tons per 
square inch." 

Our consul at Toronto, under date of 
Oct. 31, 1902, writes: "A word of cau- 
tion to intending operators may be timely. 
I notice many references in the public 
press in regard to the formation of com- 
panies proposing to utilize peat beds. 
Fully $400,000 has, in the course of seven 
or eight years, been practically wasted in 
Canada in futile attempts in this line." 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 37 

These statements, publicly made, are 
illustrative of numerous others of like 
character, and may be considered as suffi- 
cient to " afford food for thought." Opin- 
ions may differ, but facts do not admit of 
dispute. 

It would seem that the enterprise, pa- 
tience, perseverance, and pluck so plainly 
and persistently manifested for a series of 
years, in this matter, were entitled to a 
much greater measure of success in the 
production of this fuel than these state- 
ments and reports would seem to indi- 
cate, to say nothing of the pecuniary 
reward which such efforts might justly 
anticipate; but it proves to be a singular 
illustration of adherence to an erroneous 
idea and persistent efforts to do what can't 
be done, and to accomplish what has long 
ago and repeatedly been demonstrated to 
be impossible ; and it is still more singular 
and astonishing that there are to-day those 



38 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

who are embarking in fuel enterprises on 
the same line of operation, with the hope 
and expectation of accomplishing an im- 
possibility. 

Large sums of money have also been 
extravagantly expended or wasted in the 
States. A single instance, as illustrative, 
may suffice. The Hudson River Peat Co., 
many years ago, having evidently con- 
tracted "peat fever," capitalized at $800,- 
000, and, proposing to do a big thing, 
secured an extensive bog nearly opposite 
Poughkeepsie, preparatory to making peat 
fuel by pressure. The working drawings 
for their machinery covered more than 
500 sheets of large drawing-paper. The 
weight of metal was upwards of 200 tons. 
A single one of several large castings 
weighed nine tons, and was hauled by 
eight yoke of oxen. I visited the place 
while preparations were in progress. The 
peat was there, "a rich, abundant store/' 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 39 

— and is presumed to remain there still, for 
I have never learned of any fuel being made 
there or of the result of the enterprise. 

The manufacture of briquet ted fuel, or 
"patent fuel," as it is called, has been 
carried on in different parts of Europe for 
some fifty years or more, and in some 
places has developed into an extensive and 
prosperous business. The material used is 
mostly coal dust, refuse coal and coke, 
lignites, etc., with the addition of a per- 
centage of some adhesive matter, such as 
pitch, tar, asphalt, petroleum, naphtha ref- 
use, and other resinous substances, as a 
binder, which are mixed with the material 
in a heated condition; the mass is sub- 
mitted to powerful pressure, and turned 
out in blocks of any desired shape and 
size. I have seen "peat briquettes" from 
Germany of apparently firm and solid tex- 
ture, superior to anything produced in this 
country, but am not informed of their com- 



40 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

position, method of manufacture, or value 
for fuel. 

Condensed peat fuel differs essentially 
from the pressed article already described 
and commented upon. The process of 
manufacture is exceedingly simple, rapid, 
and successful. The plant required for its 
production is comparatively inexpensive ; 
the expense of manufacture is small, and the 
fuel produced is superior in many respects 
to that produced by any other process. 

The crude material is excavated and 
brought from the bog in any convenient 
manner. The treatment is such that the 
original organization of the peat is de- 
stroyed; the air, of which a large amount 
is contained in its cells, is ejected; its plastic 
and adhesive properties are developed ; ad- 
vantage is taken of some of the peculiar 
natural qualities of the material, and it is 
then in condition to be blocked or moulded 
into any form desired, which may be ac- 



HOW TO MAKE PEAT FUEL 41 

complished in a variety of simple ways. 
It is then exposed in the open air for 
drying, or artificial means may be used 
to expedite this. I have made good 
steam fuel in four or five days' exposure 
in the open air ; but, like wood, it improves 
with age. These blocks when broken may 
have the variety in size and shape that we 
are accustomed to find in coal. The frac- 
ture has much the appearance of a mineral 
fracture. It cannot be dissolved or reduced 
to its original consistency. 

The product is a solid, hard fuel which 
burns freely with a light draft, consumes 
entirely from surface to centre, leaving a 
residuum of light ash, but no clinker or 
cinders, does not disintegrate, is as imper- 
vious to water as brick, emits very little 
smoke and no offensive gases, is readily 
carbonized, producing a strong coke of 
superior quality for domestic, steam, and 
metallurgical purposes. 



PEAT COKE 

Not only may we utilize peat in its natu- 
ral condition and in its manufactured and 
solidified state, but we may carbonize it as 
we do wood and coal, and produce peat coke ; 
and it is to this fuel and the proper produc- 
tion of it that I desire to call special atten- 
tion because of its superior excellence for 
all ordinary purposes and for the more 
severe processes required in the arts. 

Coked peat is said to have been used 
in the Freyburg smelting works about the 
year 1360, and mention is made of its use 
for like purposes in England in the early 
part of the seventeenth century. 

Dr. King, an Irish writer, in 1685, says 
of peat : " It is accounted a tolerably sweet 
fire; we could hardly live without some 

42 



PEAT COKE 43 

bogs. When it is charred [coked] it serves 
to work iron, and even to make it in a 
bloomery. Peat charred I reckon the 
sweetest and wholesomest fire that can be ; 
fitter for a chamber or for consumptive 
people than either wood or stone coal or 
charcoal." 

A variety of methods for coking or car- 
bonizing peat have been adopted, differing 
somewhat in various localities and with 
differing results. A limited quantity of 
peat coke was at one time produced and 
used in Germany and Austria. I have seen 
descriptions of the manner in which it has 
been attempted in England, Ireland, France, 
Bohemia, Bavaria, Saxony, Russia, Fries- 
land, and elsewhere, the general principles 
being the same, but differing in the manner 
of application. I do not learn, however, 
that the success in any of these countries 
has been such as to encourage its produc- 
tion in large quantities. The amount pro- 



44 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

duced has been small, owing, perhaps, to 
lack of perfected methods. Notwithstand- 
ing the numerous, long-continued, and per- 
sistent efforts, they appear to have failed 
of the success required for a merchantable 
article, until finally there was remaining in 
all Europe only one establishment which 
could produce any. 

Within the last three years, however, 
renewed attempts to coke peat fuel have 
been made in several places. We hear of 
them in Norway and Russia, and the state- 
ment is made that " the success realized is 
such as to warrant the erection of addi- 
tional works." Of the process used I am 
not informed. 

On the other hand, a recent report (March 
13, 1903) from our Consul General at Chris- 
tiania says that u for the purpose of study- 
ing the methods practised in other countries, 
the machinery employed, cost of production, 
etc., the government, in 1901, sent an agent 



PEAT COKE 45 

to Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Neth- 
erlands, Austria, and Russia;" and " after 
extensive experiments, experts have come 
to the conclusion that plants for the car- 
bonization of peat, where it is transformed 
into coke or coal, must be looked upon as 
failures." 

Until recently I have never known of 
any peat coke being produced in this coun- 
try; but during the past three years, per- 
sistent and well-directed efforts have been 
conducted for the purpose of determining 
upon a practical method of producing the 
much-desired fuel at a cost and of a 
quality which should render it practicable 
to introduce it as a merchantable article, 
available for those purposes for which it is 
known to possess superior merit. The 
result has been a perfected process by which 
coke is produced from condensed peat which 
is far superior to the best wood charcoal, 
fully equal, and by some declared to be 



46 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

superior, to the best coke made from coal of 
any kind. 

The process is exceedingly simple and 
inexpensive and the product speaks for 
itself. Its calorific power is intense. 

The crude peat as taken from the bog is 
condensed and solidified by what is known 
as the Leavitt process; the coking or car- 
bonizing is accomplished by the more re- 
cently discovered Rockwell process: the 
former is not patented, but is free to all ; 
the coking process is covered by patents. 
The gases generated from the peat in the 
process of coking are used for heating the 
ovens and are amply sufficient for that 
purpose. 

The quantity of coke obtainable from a 
good quality of condensed peat may 
average about forty per cent of its 
weight. 

The high heating power of peat and peat 
coke and its absolute freedom from sulphur 



PEAT COKE 47 

(or, at most, only a trace), and the proper- 
ties deleterious to metals must commend 
it to all and must invest it with peculiar 
interest to the smelter and those who fol- 
low after him as manufacturers of metals 
which he produces. 

In converting peat into coke, practically 
the same range of by-products may be 
obtained from the ovens as in the coking 
of coal ; and, properly managed, the work- 
ing expenses of producing coke from good 
peat may be covered by the value of these 
products. 

From an article on " Coke as a Fuel," by 
G. L. Fowler, in The Engineer of April, 
1903, we quote: "The temperature to be 
obtained by the combustion of coke is con- 
siderably in excess of that possible with any 
of the grades of coal. With a forced draft, 
such, for example, as that existing in a 
fire-box of a locomotive, a temperature of 
4700° F. can be obtained. The corre- 



48 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

sponding maximum temperatures for high- 
grade bituminous coal, such as Pocahontas 
and Anthracite, are about 4000° and 4500° 
respectively. 

"Considered as a fuel for locomotive or 
stationary work, coke, within its limita- 
tions, may be regarded as almost ideal. It 
is clean, easily handled, burns freely and 
without smoke, is capable of furnishing an 
intense heat upon demand, has a low per- 
centage of ash, and has no deleterious effect 
upon the boiler or furnace. Its use is 
merely a matter of price and supply, and 
where these two can compete with coal, 
there coke will find its field of usefulness 
and application." 

Professor Johnson, in his valuable essay 
on " Peat and its Uses," says : " When peat 
is charred, it yields a coke which, being 
richer in carbon, is capable of giving a 
more intense heat than peat itself, in the 
same way that charcoal emits a more in- 



PEAT COKE 49 

tense heat in its combustion than the wood 
from which it is made. 

" Peat coke has been and is employed, to 
some extent, in metallurgical processes, as a 
substitute for charcoal, and, when properly 
prepared from good peat, is in no way infe- 
rior to the latter ; is, in fact, better. 

"Peat condensed by pressure yields, by 
coking or charring, a friable coal, compara- 
tively unsuited for heating purposes. 

" A peat which is dense, as the result of 
proper mechanical treatment (condensing), 
yields a very homogeneous and compact 
coke, superior to any wood charcoal, the 
best qualities weighing nearly twice as 
much per bushel. 

" I have carbonized, in an iron retort, 
specimens of peat prepared by Elsberg's, 
Leavitt's, and Ashcroft and Betteley's pro- 
cesses. Elsberg's gave 35, the others 37 per 
cent of coke. That from Elsberg's peat 
was greatly fissured and could be crushed 



50 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

in the fingers to small fragments; that 
from the other peats was more firm and 
required considerable exertion to break it; 
all had a decidedly metallic brilliancy of 
surface/' 



INTENSITY OF HEAT GENERATED 
BY PEAT FUEL 

It is a fact, acknowledged by all who 
have had practical experience in the mat- 
ter, that peat produces an intense heat, a 
feature of so much importance as to entitle 
it to prominent mention and careful consid- 
eration. Its virtue in this respect is much 
increased when prepared, solidified, and 
dried, and it reaches its maximum of heat- 
ing power when, in this condition, it is 
charred or coked. 

In an interesting and elaborate article in 
the American Railway Times on " The Calo- 
rific Value of Fuel," the remark is made 
that "coal cannot produce a temperature 
equal to that obtained from coke. Twenty 
tons of coal will not give a temperature 

51 



52 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

so great as that afforded by one ton of 
coke." 

The intense heat generated by peat fuel, 
and especially by peat coke, has been the 
subject of frequent remark, and is an impor- 
tant consideration in estimating its value. 



PEAT FUEL FOR DOMESTIC 
PURPOSES 

The ready and voluntary testimony of 
numerous parties who, during a series of 
years, have used peat fuel for heating, cook- 
ing, and the usual variety of household pur- 
poses, has been that it was the best fuel they 
had ever used ; and those who more recently 
have used peat coke, of which I have before 
made special mention, are no less positive 
in the oft-repeated assertion that it is the 
"very best" fuel they have ever used. 

It is easily kindled, burns freely, and 
gives a quick and intense heat. If covered 
with ashes, it will keep for a long time and 
can be rekindled at pleasure. For baking, 
boiling, and broiling, it is excellent ; and for 
heating irons on ironing days there is no 
fuel equal to it. It is much cleaner than 

53 



54 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

coal, more pleasant to handle, and easily 
managed for all purposes. 

It is an established fact that for the sick- 
chamber there is no fuel which yields such 
mild and grateful heat as peat. For con- 
sumptives and persons with delicate lungs, 
it is especially desirable, as it produces 
none of the painful effects of wood smoke 
or coal gas. If burned in a soapstone 
stove, it will afford the maximum of com- 
fort to the most sensitive invalid. Within 
the circle of my own acquaintance are 
those who have borne repeated testimony, 
not only to the mild and soothing effect of 
this fuel, but to the absolute relief afforded 
in cases of lung difficulties. 

It should be borne in mind distinctly, 
that with peat fuel, its value of service 
depends fully as much upon the manner 
in which it is used, and the methods and 
appliances for using it, as upon the pecul- 
iar qualities and characteristics of the fuel 



PEAT FUEL FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES 55 

itself. For open grates, ranges, and fur- 
naces, the fire-pot or receptacle for the fuel 
should be smaller in area and of less depth 
than is ordinarily provided for coal. A 
smaller quantity is required for a charge, 
but renewed somewhat more frequently 
than coal, and should be burned with very 
much less draft ; indeed, as soon as the fuel 
is once well ignited, it will frequently be 
found desirable to reduce, or almost close, 
the draft. It makes no soot and leaves no 
clinker, but only a soft, light ash. 



PEAT AS A FUEL FOR GENERAT- 
ING STEAM 

Peat as a fuel for generating steam has 
been repeatedly shown to be of great value. 
As yet, the production of it in this coun- 
try (although numerous small plants have 
been operated for the production of it) has 
not been sufficient to insure a constant and 
steady supply, such as would warrant a 
manufacturing establishment, railroad, or 
steamship company in adopting it. 

Its superior fitness and great value for 
all these purposes has been repeatedly and 
abundantly demonstrated, as is freely testi- 
fied to by numerous practical men w r ho 
would gladly avail themselves of it if a 
regular and sufficient supply was available. 
From the testimony of a few of these I 
quote: "The heating power of condensed 

56 



PEAT AS FUEL FOR GENERATING STEAM 57 

peat has been proved to be superior to that 
of coal; and it is well adapted to steam- 
engines, stationary, locomotive, or marine. 
It saves half the time of getting up steam, 
and will do double duty as compared with 
coal. The absence of smoke and clinkers, 
and the preservation of grate and fire-boxes 
from the effects of sulphur, are important 
additional advantages." — " The fuel, having 
no smoke and much gas, keeps up a con- 
stant flame; in fact, while using it, the 
generation of steam was so rapid that I 
stood with my hand on the valve lever all 
the time, fearing an explosion." 

I have learned of trials of peat fuel on 
the Boston and Albany; New York, New 
Haven, and Hartford ; Hudson River ; Con- 
necticut River; Central Vermont; Grand 
Trunk ; New York Central ; and other rail- 
roads — each of them with uniformly suc- 
cessful and pleasing results. 

Some of its advantages for steam are 



58 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

plainly discernible, and may be briefly 
stated as follows : It ignites readily and 
burns freely, generally with a large volume 
of flame. Combustion appears to be almost 
perfect, with very clear and intense heat, 
producing no cinders, no sparks, no soot, 
very little smoke, and no clinker; the 
consequence of which is that under a boiler 
steam is generated much more quickly than 
by coal, the flues and tubes of the boiler 
are kept free from soot, clean, and bright, 
and therefore in better condition to make 
the heat available, and the grate bars are 
not burned out and injured as with coal; 
while on the score of comfort to travellers 
it may be said that annoyance and actual 
suffering occasioned by cinders, sparks, and 
smoke, which, in spite of the numerous 
devices for consuming them, we are now 
constantly subjected to, are, by the use of 
this fuel, entirely obviated. 

An oil refinery at East Boston, requiring 



PEAT AS FUEL FOR GENERATING STEAM 59 

for its process superheated steam to a 
degree and extent which it was found ex- 
tremely difficult to obtain with wood or coal 
of any kind (and under the most favor- 
able circumstances necessitating two fur- 
naces, one for generating and the other for 
superheating), made a faithful trial of con- 
densed peat, in order to determine the in- 
tensity of heat generated by it. The fuel, 
which was from the Leavitt works at Lex- 
ington, Massachusetts, proved to be satis- 
factory. Steam was not only generated, 
but superheated to the full extent and 
temperature required ; and it was satisfac- 
torily demonstrated that with this fuel the 
whole service demanded might be had from 
one furnace instead of two — an item of 
no light importance. 

A trial of the same condensed fuel was 
made at the Lowell Bleachery under their 
boilers (engine 500 horse-power), of which I 
have only verbal, but reliable, report. It 



60 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

made more steam than coal and accom- 
plished with ease the severest service re- 
quired at the works. The superintendent 
said he considered it a perfect success, and 
that all now required was to adapt the fire- 
boxes for it and learn to use it. 

My own personal experience during six 
years, while operating peat works at Lex- 
ington, Massachusetts, w r as confirmatory of 
all these statements. During four years I 
ran a 14 horse-power tubular boiler; (the 
fire-box, fitted for coal, was originally 
32 x 42 inches, with grate bars f of an inch 
apart and 15 inches below the boiler) I 
burned nothing but condensed peat of my 
own manufacture, and, finding that the heat 
generated was far in excess of what was re- 
quired, the area of the grate was gradually 
reduced, by laying fire-bricks at the sides and 
rear end, to 16 x 36 inches — less than one- 
half the original area. The fuel was never 
more than six inches deep on the grate, 



PEAT AS FUEL FOB GENERATING STEAM 61 

generally less ; the amount of gas generated 
produced a constant flame which filled the 
entire space under the boiler, showing that 
if a larger quantity was used, it would 
probably generate an amount of gas in 
excess of what could be consumed, and 
must therefore be wasted. It burned with 
a very light draft, gave quick and intense 
heat, and at the close of the fourth year 
the grate bars were entirely uninjured 
and as good as when new. 

At that time I had not learned to coke 
the fuel, but since doing so, have seen the 
peat coke used with results far in excess of 
what I have narrated above of my own 
experience. 

The same general principles apply to 
locomotive service. The fuel area should 
be smaller and the exhaust considerably 
less powerful. It can be banked and 
quickly started again. 

As long ago as 1866 Genery Twitchel, 



62 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

then president of the Boston and Worcester 
Railroad (well known then, and doubtless 
remembered by some now, as one of the 
shrewdest of managers), after investigating 
my works at Lexington, was free to say 
that he believed the time was very near 
when the road would " dispense with coal 
because we have peat enough right on the 
side of the road to keep it running an 
almost inconceivable length of time." 



PEAT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF 
IRON AND STEEL 

Concerning the use of peat fuel for the 
smelting of ores and the manufacture of 
iron and other metals, I have had no 
personal experience and very little oppor- 
tunity for personal observation, and must 
therefore confine myself to the selection 
of a few out of the multitude of well- 
authenticated facts and opinions furnished 
by practical men, that have come to my 
notice; all of which, without exception, 
agree in commending peat as an excellent, 
and in most cases as a superior, fuel, not 
only for the purposes above mentioned, 
but for welding, annealing, softening steel 
plates, etc., contending that " good peat is 

63 



64 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

preferable to any other fuel." — "Peat 
and peat charcoal are better than wood 
charcoal/' — "Peat coke is of still greater 
value than the best charcoal, and in the 
manufacture of iron it stands unrivalled. ,, 
— " The working of iron by peat is known 
to improve its quality, and the welds, 
especially, are superior to those made with 
coal." — " After peat has been well carbon- 
ized [coked] it may be employed in puddling 
and reverberating furnaces and forges." — 
" Peat has been found preferable to all 
other fuel for case-hardening iron and 
tempering steel, forging horseshoes, and 
welding gun-barrels." — "Iron made with 
peat charcoal will not splinter." — " For 
giving toughness to the metal and uniform- 
ity of chill, qualities so essential to car- 
wheels, peat fuel is unsurpassed." — " In the 
manufacture of iron, peat fuel will, in all 
probability, come first into exclusive use, 
owing to its great superiority over coal in 



IN MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL 65 

every stage of iron and steel manufac- 
ture." 

Peat-made iron is recommended for gun- 
barrels, horseshoes, and horseshoe nails. 

A writer on fuels says: "Peat coke 
possesses a high heating power, suited to 
puddling-furnaces where the very finest 
grade of iron is made, as well as in all 
works of steel. Iron made by peat fuel 
is tougher than any other; it would be 
of the highest value as a war material. 
Peat-iron guns, if burst, would not fly 
about in fragments, nor would iron armor 
break and splinter by concussion." 

Another writer says: "The use of peat 
gas for fuel is of long standing in the iron 
and steel industry of Sweden. It is used 
in the plate furnaces with excellent results. 
It has contributed largely to improving 
the quality of Swedish steel, the excellence 
of which is well known." 

These quotations are probably sufficient 



66 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

to illustrate the qualities and value of 
peat fuel in the estimation of practical 
men familiar with the requirements and 
use of fuel in the important steel and 
iron industries. 



OTHER USES OF PEAT FUEL 

It has been successfully used for all 
domestic and steam purposes, for smelting, 
reheating, and welding iron, steel, copper, 
and other metals; for burning brick and 
lime, for making glass, under salt pans, in 
breweries and distilleries, and for a multi- 
tude of other purposes; and the sugges- 
tion is made that it would be admirably 
adapted for steam fire-engines and for all 
purposes which require a quick fire and 
intense heat. Peat coke is reported to 
have been used for clarifying sugar. 



67 



PEAT FOR GUNPOWDER AND 
FIREWORKS 

For the production of gunpowder some 
varieties of peat are superior to the charcoal 
of dogwood and alder. I have seen the 
black peat of Massachusetts so perfectly 
prepared and granulated, without any 
explosive admixture, that it was impossible 
to distinguish it from the best rifle powder, 
even by a well-practised eye. 

In the manufacture of fireworks, also, 
it is reported to have been extensively 
used in Europe, and that with marked 
success, from the fact that combustion is 
even more instantaneous and perfect than 
from the materials ordinarily in use, and 
the fires produced exceed anything hereto- 

68 



PEAT FOR GUNPOWDER AND FIREWORKS 69 

fore attained. It has long been used by 
pyrotechnists in Europe, particularly for 
colored fires, giving them greater brilliancy 
than could be effected by any other carbon. 



GAS FROM PEAT 

The properties of peat for generating gas 
for illuminating and other purposes have 
many times been tested both in this country 
and in Europe, and, so far as reported, with 
uniformly satisfactory results, but varying 
considerably, according to the character of 
the crude material. Its yield is large, and, 
in most cases, the light produced has been 
pronounced superior in brilliancy. 

The concurrent testimony appears to be 
that the production of gas from peat is 
more simple than from coal ; that the quan- 
tity produced per ton is much larger ; that 
it is purified without difficulty, is quite 
harmless and inoffensive, and that the illu- 
minating power is far greater than that 
of gas from coal. 

Dr. A. A. Hayes, at one time State Ge- 

70 



GAS FROM PEAT 71 

ologist of Massachusetts, wrote: "There 
are only two or three cannel coals known 
which afford so much illuminating material, 
placing peat in the first class of gas mate- 
rials. It exceeds all common cannels, and, 
of course, is far above any bituminous coal, 
and can be worked with poor coal to make 
good gas." 

Reports have been made from time to 
time of numerous experiments in this coun- 
try and in Europe relating to this matter, 
and the opinion is freely expressed by those 
who appear to have given most attention 
to it, that peat is destined, at no distant 
day, to be used very extensively for this 
purpose, both on account of the quality 
and quantity of the gas produced, and the 
low cost of the material, when compared 
with the coals at present most in use. 



COST AND MARKET VALUE OF 
PEAT FUEL 

The expense of producing peat fuel is 
small compared with its value. The cost, 
as given by those who have manufactured 
it at different places, by different processes, 
and under different circumstances, is vari- 
ously stated to be all the way from one to 
two dollars per ton. From my own expe- 
rience during six years I have always 
considered it safe to say that it can ordi 
narily be produced, in good shape and mar- 
ketable condition, for less than two dollars 
per ton. It has been sold at various prices, 
— all the way from three to eight dollars 
per ton. 

I am told by the parties now manu- 
facturing the peat coke, to which I have 
invited special attention, that the present 

72 



COST AND MARKET VALUE OF PEAT FUEL 73 

cost of that is " less than three dollars per 
ton" ; and that " with improved machinery 
and equipment, and producing fuel in large 
quantities, the cost of a ton of peat coke 
will not exceed two dollars." Their price 
per ton in large quantities is five dollars, 
while in small quantities for domestic use 
it is being retailed at the rate of nine dol- 
lars per ton. 

It should be understood that intelligent 
experience, prudence, and good manage- 
ment are essential to success in this as in 
any other manufacturing business. 



THE MARKET FOR PEAT FUEL 

In all manufacturing or producing busi- 
ness, the question of demand is fully as im- 
portant as the matter of supply, and among 
those to whom the subject of good, cheap 
fuel comes for the first time as a matter to 
be considered, the inquiry is not infrequently 
made, " Can it be sold ? " and a moment's 
reflection brings prompt reply. 

Now every family, every place of busi- 
ness, — be it office, store, or workshop, — 
every manufacturing establishment, and 
every railroad in the land, are consumers 
of fuel ; in fact, every man we meet is a 
purchaser of fuel in some shape, — some on 
a small scale, but very many on not only 
a large scale, but in quantities that are 
simply enormous. Moreover, in some of 
our heaviest establishments it is the prime 

74 



THE MARKET FOB PEAT FUEL 75 

article of necessity, the main stay of the 
business, the basis of power; without it 
manufacturing enterprise would be impo- 
tent of action, and transportation, another 
great necessity of all mercantile and com- 
mercial transactions, would fail both by 
land and by sea. 

Without attempting further to discuss 
the matter here, it is sufficient to say that 
the brief statements here given from reli- 
able authorities, show that peat fuel, prop- 
erly prepared, is a good fuel, superior even 
in many respects, for many purposes, to 
either wood or coal. It is also shown with 
equal clearness that it exists in immense 
quantities, and can be manufactured and 
produced at very small cost as compared 
with either wood or coal. In other words, 
it is good, cheap fuel. 

This being the case, the natural result 
hardly need be stated, for a good article, 
of common necessity, when offered low. 



76 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

commands a sale; and it is not too much 
to say that in any region where it is pro- 
duced the demand will, for many years, 
be likely to exceed the supply, which will 
certainly be considered a healthy condition 
of things for the producers of the fuel. 

Among my correspondents have been 
quite a number whose demand for this fuel 
in large quantities is distinctly stated; 
the fact of its value for the purposes re- 
quired being now past question, while 
within the circle of my own personal 
acquaintance the cases are numerous of 
heavy concerns who would be purchasers 
of hundreds or thousands of tons of peat 
fuel at handsomely paying rates, and still 
consider it cheap, the moment they could 
be assured of a steady and constant supply. 



CHEMICAL PRODUCTS OF PEAT 

The by-products of peat are said to be 
valuable, varying somewhat in kind and 
volume, according to the composition of 
the peat. The manufacturer of peat fuel 
and peat coke will recover from the coking 
ovens a considerable quantity of liquor 
which may be turned over to the chemist 
for distillation, etc. 

I have seen analyses by Professors Silli- 
man, Dana, Johnson, Kane, Sullivan, Sir 
Humphry Davy, and others, who report 
tar, oils, paraffine, naphtha, acetic acid, 
wood alcohol, aniline colors, etc., as the 
result. 



77 



ASHES OF PEAT 

The ashes of peat are of considerable 
value and used to good advantage on some 
soils, and are highly recommended. 

Professor Dana says : " Peat ashes abound 
in carbonate, sulphate, and especially phos- 
phate of lime. They make a very service- 
able cement, and are used to some extent 
for that purpose. They certainly possess a 
value, and should not be allowed to go to 
waste." 



78 



CONCLUSIONS 

An editorial in the New York Tribune, 
some years ago, on the "Importance of 
the Peat Enterprise/' sums up the whole 
matter as below, and is as true to-day as 
then : — 

" The results of numerous experiments, 
both practical and scientific, have already 
proved that American peat, however rudely 
prepared, will answer all the requirements 
of a perfect fuel, more economical than 
wood or coal. 

" When solidified, it is equal in value to 
any other fuel for almost any purpose. Its 
composition is closely allied to wood and 
coal, containing carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, 
and nitrogen, with less waste in burning 
than the best of coal. 

79 



80 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

"The political power of any country 
depends upon the development of home 
manufactures. 

"Everything, therefore, which tends to 
increase the knowledge of the existence 
and use of peat, as well as the treatment 
for improving its quality and heat-producing 
efficiency, should be ranked as great national 
blessings. 

" The purposes to which peat fuel can be 
applied are as wide as those of wood and 
coal. For domestic purposes it is superior 
to either, except that the peat requires 
replenishing oftener than a coal fire, and 
less so than that of wood. It burns in open 
grates like cannel coal. Its great advantage 
as a locomotive fuel is that it burns with 
great freedom, gives intense heat, and 
throws off no cinders. 

"The truly philanthropic minds of the 
present generation should be at once awak- 
ened to the introduction of peat fuel as 



CONCLUSIONS 81 

likely to produce one of the greatest bless- 
ings they could bestow upon the poor. 

" The subject is even worthy the atten- 
tion of every legislature, to encourage the 
development of peat, its manufacture and 
use." 



ANTISEPTIC PROPERTIES OF PEAT 

The antiseptic properties of peat are 
remarkable. The numerous cases, well au- 
thenticated, where the bodies of human 
beings, animals, and other perishable sub- 
stances have been unearthed from peat bogs 
after having lain there for many years, 
afford unquestionable proof of this. 

Properly prepared, it is suggested that it 
would serve an excellent purpose as a pack- 
ing for meats and other perishable articles 
in storage or transportation. 



82 



PEAT AS A DISINFECTANT AND 
DEODORIZING AGENT 

Dky, pulverized peat is not uncommonly 
used for these purposes. Every farmer 
knows its efficiency in these respects, when 
placed about vaults, drains, and other re- 
ceptacles of filth. 

A somewhat famous "Chemical Deodor- 
izing Powder" which for many years has 
been extensively sold throughout the coun- 
try, is simply peat, charred, pulverized, and 
put up in neat packages convenient for sale 
and use. Although " nothing but peat," I 
am satisfied from my own experience, and 
testimony abundant, that it possesses in 
large measure the properties and virtues 
claimed for it. 



83 



OTHER USES FOR PEAT 

Peat has been utilized for various other 
purposes than fuel, but whether advanta- 
geously or not in all cases, I am unable to 
say. Paper of fair quality for some pur- 
poses has been produced from the fibrous 
portions of peat in France, and is now being 
produced in Ireland, and I have recently 
learned of a large plant in Austria, which 
produces from peat not only a variety of 
grades of paper, but textures having the 
appearance of cloths and carpets, and at a 
very small cost. Experiments on a limited 
scale in this country have demonstrated 
the practicability of producing good paper 
from some kinds of peat fibre. 

Peat has been manufactured in such man- 
ner as to serve for building, ornamental; and 

84 



OTHER USES FOE PEAT 85 

other purposes, as a substitute for terra cotta 
and papier-mache. 

It is said that the solid bitumen from the 
distillation of some peats may be advanta- 
geously employed like asphalt in the prepa- 
ration of material for paving. 

It has also been stated, on what appears 
to be good authority, that the amount of 
resinous and vegetable matter in some peats 
is such as to render them apparently avail- 
able for tanning purposes. 



PEAT AS A FERTILIZER 

"Peat is highly concentrated vegetable 
food." As a fertilizer it possesses a value 
far beyond what is generally accorded it. 
Much of it is composted and used in its 
gross form, but it is quite possible to mix 
with it ammoniacal and other ingredients, 
grind and prepare it in the form of a pou- 
drette, and place it on the market as a com- 
mercial article for fertilizing purposes. 

In past years I have manufactured it in 
considerable quantities, using the refuse of 
a neighboring glue factory and grinding it 
with the condensed peat fuel. The product 
was a fine granulated article having much 
the color and appearance of ground coffee. 
It was clean and entirely odorless, but hold- 
ing all the ammoniacal properties in the best 
shape for affording nourishment and stimu- 

86 



PEAT AS A FERTILIZER 87 

his to vegetation. It was sold under the 
name of the "New England Fertilizer/' and 
the united testimony of those who used it 
was that it was "a superior fertilizer.' ' 
The cost of production was very small com- 
pared with the real value and the price it 
should command if placed on the market in 
competition with the more expensive brands 
on sale. 



PEAT-MOSS LITTER 

The undecomposed mosses which accumu- 
late and are found on the surface of some 
peat meadows may be profitably gathered, 
dried, and utilized for stable bedding, mat- 
tresses, etc. Large quantities of it are 
gathered, dried, and used for these purposes 
in the old countries, and in recent years 
considerable quantities have been imported 
from Germany and sold here to our best 
stable keepers, horse men, and dairy men. 
It makes a soft, substantial bedding, and its 
high disinfecting and deodorizing properties 
readily absorb all noxious gases and tend 
to keep the stables free from objectionable 
odors. It comes in bales of about 250 
pounds, and is sold in Boston at two dollars 
and a half per bale. 



88 



MIXED FUELS 

A number of mixed fuels have been 
produced from time to time in the old 
country; utilizing, for this purpose, refuse 
coal, coal dust, and lignite, with pitch, 
tar, rosin, oil, bitumen, or other adhesive 
and inflammable material, as a binder ; and 
in some instances peat has been used. 
The materials are mixed, formed into 
blocks, generally oval in form, submitted 
to heavy pressure, and turned out in good 
shape for handling and use. This is 
called patent fuel or briquettes. Large 
quantities have in recent years been used 
in European countries with much favor, 
and the demand for them is steadily 
increasing. 

I have manufactured a considerable 
quantity of the mixture of condensed peat 

89 



90 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

and coal dust, producing an excellent 
fuel at moderate cost. Two tests only 
were made of it for steam service — both 
on the Boston and Albany Railroad on 
regular trips from Chester to Washington, 
12 miles (up the Hoosac Mountain), well 
known to be the most difficult portion of 
the whole line, having several short and 
some double curves, with a grade of 83 
feet to the mile for a part of the distance, 
a total rise of 950 feet, and requiring 
the most severe steam service from loco- 
motives. On one of these trips I accom- 
panied the engineer, and was furnished 
with his detailed statement of the run, 
indorsed by the fireman. They were 
astonished and delighted; said it had 
accomplished what never was done with 
coal ; and that it was the greatest fuel for 
making steam that they had ever used. 

It is, however, doubtful if it would pay 
to manufacture this fuel for any other 



MIXED FUELS 91 

purpose than to realize something from the 
coal dust. It does not improve the peat, 
but it affords a means of utilizing the dust. 

I have once prepared a fuel of peat 
saturated with crude oil, which was of 
course highly inflammable and burned 
furiously. The peat furnished a wick for 
the oil while that lasted, and was then 
consumed on its own merits. 

There are parties in this country who 
propose (and have patented some three 
years ago) a mixed fuel of peat with per- 
centages of crude oil, bitumen, lime, and 
perhaps other ingredients; but I do not 
understand that they have yet any works 
in operation. 

The Tide Water Coal Co., of Portsmouth, 
Rhode Island, and the International Coal 
Co., of Rutland, Vermont, produce coal- 
dust briquettes; the former with coal tar 
as a binder, and the latter using hydraulic 
cement ; and doubtless there are others. 



CAUTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT 

The manufacture of peat fuel as now 
successfully accomplished inaugurates an 
entirely neio industry which will command 
capital and require labor. 

The raw material is lavishly abundant, 
widespread, and easily available, and the 
demand for the product is universal and 
unlimited. 

The cost of production is small com- 
pared with its real value ; and the price 
which it commands in the market yields 
a percentage of profit such as is realized in 
few other enterprises ; affording, neverthe- 
less, a superior quality at a low price, 
making it indeed a good, cheap fuel. 

Pioneers in the peat-fuel business in any 
section of the country, though they may 

92 



CAUTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT 9& 

reasonably expect to share to some extent 
the difficulties of inaugurating a new enter- 
prise, will, with ordinary good manage- 
ment, prudence, and perseverance, be sure 
to find, without effort, ready and constantly 
increasing demand for their product, and 
realize large and legitimate reward. 

Most of the new enterprises of the age 
are understood to demand, and require for 
their development and success, very large 
preliminary outlays of money. Not so 
with peat ; the outlay required is compara- 
tively small, while the returns are quick 
and sure, for " everybody " is a ready cus- 
tomer for good " cheap fuel." 

The men who have been, and still are, 
ready to sink large sums in oil wells and 
gold mines at a distance are apparently 
slow to observe the wealth that lies plainly 
before them at home, in the peat mines 
which multitudes pass every day. The 
next generation will probably wonder that 



94 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

this generation of enterprising men is so 
blind. 

Intending operators in this field would 
do well to secure all the information pos- 
sible from those who have been practically 
familiar with the manufacture and use of 
this fuel, whether they have been successful 
or not. Valuable information has many 
times been obtained by failure as well as 
by success, and it is not infrequently the 
case that a little diligent inquiry from 
those who have ploughed and searched the 
same field before, and learned to their cost 
just "how not to do it," would have, at 
least, saved some useless expenditure of 
time and money, and might possibly have 
hastened the day of success. 

On one point I cannot better give expres- 
sion to my own ideas than to quote from 
a correspondent, who writes : " If the peat 
manufacture succeeds in this country, of 
which there is scarcely a doubt, it will not 



CAUTION AND ENCOUBAGEMENT 95 

be through the agency of monster monopo- 
lies, which buy up all the swamps obtain- 
able, with all the paraphernalia of joint 
stock companies, but by individual effort, or 
the union of a few individuals who will con- 
duct the manufacture of it in the same 
manner as any other legitimate business. 
In that way the business will succeed, 
and will develop an almost inconceivable 
amount of riches which are now buried 
and unavailable." 



WHAT SHALL WE DO ABOUT IT? 

If, then, we have at our own doors, and 
in great abundance, an article of fuel avail- 
able at small cost, which is equal in value 
and superior in quality to that which we 
bring from a distance, and upon which we 
are now, and for many years have been, 
mainly dependent, is it not plainly apparent 
that it affords opportunity for the creation 
of an entirely new, productive, and profitable 
industry, employing capital and labor on a 
very large scale and utilizing resources now 
lying dormant, the importance of which is 
beyond estimate ? 



96 




A PEAT BOG. 




4 



A SLANE OF THE OLDEN TIME, ABOUT 1760. 



: r 




A MODERN SLANE. 

(MADE BY O. AMES & SONS, NO. EASTON, MASS.) 




DOBSON'S PEAT PRESS. 




II ., 



IIP 



wmmmmam wmmmm 
^^^ ^: _ - _ - ggpp 

DOBSOX PEAT BRIQUETTES. 

FRESH FROM THE PRESS. AFTER TRANSPORTATION BY RAIL. 






DICKSON'S PEAT PRESS. 




LEAVITT'S PEAT CONDENSING AND MOULDING MILL. 

1870. 




LEAVITT'S PEAT CONDENSING AND MOULDING MILL. 
IMPROVED 




LEAVITT'S PEAT CONDENSING AND MOULDING MILL. 
PERFECTED 




vmsmsm 





PEAT FUEL, BROKEN. 




PEAT COKE, BROKEN. 



APPENDIX 

We have felt a degree of satisfaction, 
perhaps justifiable pride, because of the 
exceedingly favorable mention which was 
made, by the Press and others, of the volume 
referred to in the Preface ; but have experi- 
enced a much greater degree of satisfaction 
in observing the remarks, oftentimes at 
considerable length, which have been added 
upon the subject-matter of which it treats, 
showing a quick appreciation of its impor- 
tance, and a readiness voluntarily to aid 
in disseminating information concerning it, 
which is rarely accorded to any new 
enterprise. 

Some of the following extracts from 
opinions expressed are of general, others of 
local interest ; but all are worthy of careful 
perusal, as expressive of disinterested opin- 

97 



98 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

ions " on the merits of the case." Certain 
it is, that all, with one accord, bear earnest 
testimony to the value of peat as an article 
of fuel. 

OPINIONS EXPRESSED 

(Referred to in the Preface) 

" Facts about Peat, It is a thorough production, 
the author proceeding exhaustively and arranging 
his abundant matter in a manner that renders the 
task of following him easy and profitable. He has 
mastered his subject, and evidently has neglected 
nothing that is calculated to illustrate it and to 
press useful facts on the mind of the inquirer. 
Various, minute, and copious in its facts, and show- 
ing how valuable is peat as an article of fuel, this 
work must have a great effect in directing attention 
to a neglected agent for the production of heat, one 
which Providence has placed most freely at the 
command of man, and which ought to be made to 
enter very largely into human consumption. 

"Mr. Leavitt is literally correct when he says 
that the substance of which he treats so well ' is of 
sufficient importance to command earnest attention, 
not only from the business man, on the score of its 
application to domestic purposes, manufactures, 



APPENDIX 99 

and the arts, but from the philanthropist, in view 

of the relief it may be made to afford as one of the 

necessaries of life.' Mr. Leavitt's work should be 

read by all, as it is full of information, and it needs 

only that the value of peat should be understood to 

bring it into general use to the great relief of all 

interests." -n . m 7 

— Boston Traveler. 

" Mr. Leavitt has published more information — 

historical, scientific, and practical — about peat, we 

venture to say, than any other man in the country 

is possessed of. Those who seek to be thoroughly 

informed should procure it." -r> 71 TT . 

r — Brooklyn Union. 

" We consider it a valuable, timely, and interest- 
ing work. The whole community are interested in 
the subject of which it treats." 

— Fall River (Mass.) News. 

" Mr. Leavitt's facts and remarks throw a great 
amount of light upon the subject, and they ought 
to have a wide circulation. We have an abundance 
of peat, and he tells us of its importance as an 
article of fuel and how to prepare and use it." 

— Pawtucket (R.L) Gazette. 

"Mr. Leavitt has prepared an exhaustive state- 
ment of the history and properties of peat, the 

L.ofC' 



100 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

localities of peat beds, the methods of preparation 
and manufacture, its applicability to the various 
arts, as well as to the production of heat, and other 
incidental matters of practical importance." 

— Worcester (Mass.) Spy. 

"Full of most interesting facts on the subject." 

— Hartford Press. 

" It will be found especially interesting to manu- 
facturers and railroad managers." 

— Hartford Courant. 

" A well-timed and well-executed compilation of 
important facts. Of all men, farmers should turn 
their attention to peat, for the preservation of their 
best forests for more valuable uses than fuel." 

— Vermont Watchman. 

" Giving us all the information upon the sub- 
ject of peat that the most laborious and extensive 

research can possibly furnish." 

— Lowell Courier. 

" It contains more historical facts on the forma- 
tion of peat beds than anything we have heretofore 

— New York Spirit of the Times. 



APPENDIX 101 

"Containing * Facts' which are not only inter- 
esting, but of the highest value. Turning listlessly 
to its title page, we became so much absorbed in its 
pages that we read it as closely as an editor ever 
finds time to read anything. The glowing heat 
and cheerful light of a peat fire are the very ulti- 
matum of a social evening." 

— Providence Daily Press. 

"Keplete with interesting and instructive 
6 Facts/ demonstrating that abundant sources of 
supply are to be found in all the New England 
states, and its economy over wood and coal. Its 
perusal by every consumer in New England would 
be productive of great good, and excite a new enter- 
prise throughout the New England states." 

— Portland (Me.) Advertiser. 

"A very interesting work, because peat forms 
one of the products of industry, which, when per- 
fected from its raw state, forms, like mines of iron, 
lead, copper, and silver, great wealth to a nation." 

— Union and Journal, Biddeford, Me. 

"It embraces much curious and instructive 
matter of practical and scientific interest." 

— Loivell Citizen. 



102 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

"Peat exists in exhaustless deposits in every 
northern state — Minnesota is full of it. This 
volume furnishes a vast deal of information re- 
specting the peat bogs of each state, and its 
methods of preparation and use are elaborately 
discussed." -St. Paul Press. 

" The practicability of condensing peat so as to 
produce an article of fuel of great value has been 
abundantly proved. 

"The process appears to be completely success- 
ful, and at such a moderate expense as to admit of 
general application wherever there are peat bogs. 

"This fuel when well prepared has qualities 
which make it equal to any other, and, for some 
uses, superior to any. 

"It is both economical and agreeable. For 
steam it is quicker and more effective than any- 
thing else. 

"In making and refining iron, it is, at least, 
equal to charcoal, and in the finer grades of iron 
work it is invaluable. 

" It furnishes an illuminating gas having double 
the power of coal gas. 

" The amount of solid wealth which this inven- 
tion will add to the country quite leaves petroleum 

in the background." , r -^ , T 7 , 

° — New York Independent. 



APPENDIX 103 

" A simple and rational process by which crude 
peat, as it is taken from the bed, can be converted 
into solid, dry fuel, in good shape and at moderate 
cost. 

"The machinery is simple, and not too expen- 
sive for use, and can be easily set up and run by 
the side of the peat bed. 

" The personal character of the inventor is fitted 
to inspire confidence that he would not come before 
the public unless he had a good thing calculated 
to be of general benefit. This method may fairly 
claim to be not only the best, but the only one, so 
far as is known, in this country, that is at once 
effectual, cheap, and rapid. He is the pioneer in 
the movement in favor of the use of peat." 

— Brooklyn Union. 

"The favorable results of recent experiments 
with peat have called the attention of many busi- 
ness men to it. 

" It will be likely to come into close competition 
with the fuel from the coal mines. The tendency 
will be, in any event, to protect the public from 
speculations and monopolies in coal." 

— New York Evening Post 

" The testimony of scientific men is freely given 
as to its value." _ Scientific American. 



104 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

"This subject is attracting much attention at 
various points, on account of the scarcity and high 
price of fuel." 

— The Prairie Farmer, Chicago, 111. 

"It bids fair to become of great value to our 
state, as we have abundance of it here. It may 
eventually fill up the greatest deficiency of our 
state, by furnishing an article equal to coal for 
fuel and smelting purposes." 

— TJie Northern Farmer, Fond du Lac, Wis. 

"Madison, in this state, and Chicago, Illinois, 
have been boasting of having in their immediate 
vicinity large beds of peat, which are capable of 
being turned to good account for fuel for domestic 
purposes, but more especially for mechanical pur- 
poses. Well, Kanosha cannot afford to be behind- 
hand in any of these great natural resources; so 
she also boasts of inexhaustible peat beds. 

"One ton of peat will go as far and make as 
much heat as two tons of the best Lehigh coal for 
all mechanical purposes." 

— The Kanosha ( Wis.) Telegraph. 

"Peat swamps are sources of great national 
wealth. So well convinced are we of this great 
truth that the writer of this, by direction of the 



APPENDIX 105 

editor-in-chief of the Tribune, has made a special 
mission to Massachusetts for the sole purpose of 
learning ' facts about peat ' from the head centre of 
information upon this subject. 

" For this purpose we spent parts of three days 
in familiar conversation with T. H. Leavitt, author 
of the most valuable treatise upon peat as an article 
of fuel that has ever been published in America 
(besides, the inventor of the most successful machine 
for preparing the crude article for use), and who 
as a gentleman of sufficient scientific attainments 
and sound sense, coupled with untiring energy and 
Yankee perseverance, has devoted more attention to 
the acquirement of real knowledge than any other 
man we have met. 

"We have also, in this month of June, visited and 
examined the operations of his works at Lexington, 
Massachusetts, where the practical effects of 'con- 
densing peat' for fuel can be witnessed, and the 
capacity of machines and the utility of applying 
steam power to the work fully demonstrated." 

— Solon Kobinson, in New York Tribune. 

" Of the value of peat, properly prepared, as an 
article of fuel, there is no question. Besides its 
worth for domestic purposes, it is unrivalled by any 
other substance for raising steam. Being free from 
sulphur, peat is also well adapted for the reduction 



106 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

of ores ; and in making the best iron, and in the 
finer processes of making iron and steel, it is equal 
to wood charcoal (and when charred it is pro- 
nounced better for welding purposes than charcoal 
itself), while some kinds of peat are equal to the 
best bituminous coal for making gas." 

— Springfield (Mass.) Republican. 

" The two main sources from which the present 
generation may expect to derive practical benefit, 
and to which we may look for aid in the economiz- 
ing of our coal, are peat and petroleum. 

" The thickness of peat varies in different locali- 
ties from two to forty or fifty feet. Assuming 
the average thickness to be only twelve feet, an 
acre would yield thirty-five hundred tons of dried 
peat ; consequently the aggregate estimated acreage 
in this country would produce twenty-one thousand 
million tons of dried peat, equal to a supply of 
twenty-one million tons per annum, for a thousand 
years. 

"It cannot be supposed that these enormous 
masses of vegetable matter were created to be either 
useless or noxious. 

" The value of peat is well known and admitted, 
both for domestic fuel and for generating steam, 
and charcoal made from peat is, in all respects, 
equal, if not superior, to wood charcoal. 



APPENDIX 107 

"The general heating power of condensed peat 
has been proved to be very superior to that of coal ; 
and, in fact, this article appears to be well adapted 
as a fuel for steam engines, whether marine, station- 
ary, or locomotive. Its use has been found to effect 
a saving of fifty per cent in time in generating 
steam, and it will do double duty as compared with 
coal. The absence of smoke and clinkers, and the 
preservation of furnace bars and boilers from the 
destructive effects of sulphur from coal, are addi- 
tional and important advantages. 

"Such a substitute for coal or coke deserves 
attention. The comparative absence of smoke and 
the total absence of all sulphurous vapors ought to 
be a sufficient inducement, independently of the 
economy effected. 

"The wonder is that it has not been generally 
brought into use. One reason why it has not, may 
lie in the limited quantity manufactured. Another 
cause for its non-adoption may be the hesitancy to 
depart from the old beaten track, which so often 
stops the way of improvement. 

" The success of the practical trials it has under- 
gone ought to be sufficient to commend its further 
use. No serious alterations to machinery are in- 
volved in its adoption. " 

— American Railway Times. 



108 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

After the lapse of somewhat more than a year, 
during which time he had persistently continued 
his investigations near and far concerning this 
whole matter, Mr. Robinson, before quoted, wrote 
as follows : — 

" Simple as is the process by which crude peat 
is converted into a good merchantable article of 
fuel, and easily as the machines are managed, it 
must be expected that some difficulties and per- 
plexities will arise, and accidents and delays occur, 
and that some will fail to realize at first the full 
measure of success anticipated, though for all such 
misfortunes there is generally to be found some 
good cause, and such has been the case. 

" From some we hear : ' It is a perfect success.' 
' All works finely/ ' The machine does all and 
more than was claimed for it/ etc., etc. Others 
have met with accident or delay, from no good 
cause that we can learn, but, as nearly as we can 
judge, from carelessness or that lack of proper 
attention which all machinery requires for its suc- 
cessful use; while others still, from yielding to 
speculation, at an early stage of their operations, 
and absolute and acknowledged mismanagement of 
what might otherwise have been productive of ex- 
cellent results, have failed to realize their anticipa- 
tions, and we fail to hear much from them, while it 
is evident that the merits of the case are too well 



APPENDIX 109 

demonstrated to admit of their saying anything 
against the enterprise. 

"It is, perhaps, but reasonable for pioneers in 
the peat business in any section of the country to 
expect to share, to some moderate extent, the diffi- 
culties of inaugurating a new enterprise, but with 
ordinary good management, patience, and persever- 
ance, these are the very men who may as reason- 
ably expect to reap the largest reward as they grow 
up with and lead in the business. 

" Of the peat enterprise generally as to what has 
been done, what is being done, and what remains 
to be done, what practical men can do, and what 
impractical and theoretical men think they can do 
or want to do, a great deal more might be said if 
more was necessary. But we only wish to make 
such statements as will call the public attention to 
the subject and induce further and more careful 
inquiries before expending money for peat lands, 
peat stock, or peat machines, so as to be thoroughly 
informed both in the manufacture and use of the 
material, with detailed results of cost, product, 
value, etc., which we are accustomed to look for in 
relation to the production and use of any other 
staple article. 

" Information must be obtained by conversation, 
correspondence, and observation, but mainly, per- 
haps, by personal intercourse with men from all 



110 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

sections of the country, whose tests, experiments, 
views, and interests concerning peat have varied 
in detail almost as much as the names they bear. 

"We find some of these reports and operations 
crude and almost trifling, others evidently more 
earnestly and carefully pursued, and others still, 
prosecuted at considerable outlay of time and 
money, but all tending to give the public better 
information, as well by failures as by success. 

"A gentleman who recently visited the works 

at , Michigan, writes: 'They use a Leavitt 

mill, and run about fifty tons crude peat per day, 
turning out a very fine article. They have no 
doubt of their abundant success, nor have we. 5 

" Another in Michigan writes : i The general 
interest is deepening daily, and the conviction that 
there is something in peat worthy the attention of 
all, is becoming universal. We run a Leavitt ma- 
chine, and work up about fifty tons of crude peat 
per day. The mill has worked satisfactorily in all 
respects, and fully up to everything claimed for it.' 

" A gentleman during the past week has informed 

us that the Peat-Fuel Co. are operating a 

Leavitt mill to one hundred tons per day, and 
'doing splendidly.' 

"Mr. , of Illinois, writes that they used a 

Leavitt mill last year and this, and says, i We can 
make twenty-five tons of dry peat per day, are all 



APPENDIX 111 

right, and can beat the great Peat Co. or any 

other company I have heard of yet. ? 

" Mr. states that he has used the fuel for 

burning lime, and on a large scale, and with the 
most satisfactory results; and that it can be used 
in any kind of kiln. 

" Inventive geniuses have also worked the peat 
placers to some advantage. All sorts of peat ma- 
chines, practicable and impracticable, have been 
offered to the public with any amount of assurance 
that each was the only variety by which peat could 
ever possibly be prepared for commercial or practi- 
cal purposes. 

"We have no recommendations to make nor 
advice to give purchasers which of these machines 
is most suitable to their use. Several have utterly 
failed, or else have proved too expensive to afford 
any probability of ever making ' returns/ although 
some of them have made good fuel. Leavitt's 
machine certainly appears to have been the most 
successful ; indeed, we hear of very little actually 
accomplished by any other. 

" We indorse nothing ; yet are free to say that if 
about to start peat works, we should buy a Leavitt 
machine in preference to any other with which we 
are acquainted. 

" We have lately requested a practical engineer 
to give us his views upon the subject of peat 



112 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

machinery. We give it for whatever it is worth, 
without indorsing it. He says : — 

" ' I have made up my mind that the only mill 
good for anything for peat fuel is the Leavitt. I 
have never seen a mill equal to this. There is com- 
mon sense in it. It is the only one that will make 
peat for all purposes on scientific principles/ 

"A valued correspondent at the West, a gentle- 
man who, for the past two years, has given more 
persistent and untiring attention to the subject, 
both as relates to the value of the fuel and the best 
process and machinery for producing it, with special 
view to the requirements of that section of the 
country, writes : — 

" < The Leavitt is the only machine I have met 
in all my investigations that fully and completely 
performs the desired work. They are ahead of the 
world in this department of manufacture.' 

"He has a Leavitt machine, and writes that he 
proposes to put up two more of the same kind. 

" In what we have said we have not intended to 
speak disparagingly of the inventions and opera- 
tions of any one in this line, much less to indulge 
in any remarks which should savor of prejudice in 
favor of any one, only so far as our own convic- 
tions were concerned, and to stimulate all to make 
practical investigation for themselves. 

"In Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota a good 



APPENDIX 113 

deal of money has been expended in experimental 
machines of various kinds. Published reports which 
we saw some months since seemed to indicate fair 
prospect of success, but a personal friend who has 
recently traversed that section and examined some 
of the works, and made careful inquiries concerning 
others, gives a less encouraging report than we could 
wish. 

" It seems apparent that they have failed to com- 
prehend the character and requirements of the ma- 
terial, and consequently that their several machines 
have not been adapted ta accomplish the desired 
results. 

" The West, of all sections of the country, needs 
a good peat machine, and every effort to meet the 
want should be liberally encouraged. 

" Large sums were expended by the Peat 

Co., but without the desired result, except to a very 
limited extent, and at large cost, and from which 
only comparatively small ' returns' were realized. 
From their late superintendent, an eminently prac- 
tical, matter-of-fact man, we have learned the fol- 
lowing facts : — 

" That while in all respects their company was 
well organized, with ample means and a good bog 
to work upon, with every evidence and conviction 
of the value of peat fuel, yet they failed to realize 
success in its manufacture from the simple fact 



114 FACTS ABOUT PEAT 

that their process was wrong; and after large ex- 
penditures in the vain endeavor to make successful 
a machine which was at the outset an impracticable 
thing, they have finally abandoned it as such, but 
with undiminished faith in peat as an article of 
fuel. 

" Of the operations of the last year we can give 
no really definite information. We are not aware 
that any one concern produced last year any very 
large quantity, sufficient to supply a market, but 
many commenced in a small way and some not 
until quite late in the season ; but wherever any 
was produced, it found favor at once with con- 
sumers so readily and to such extent that it was 
made evident that no one need question whether 
the fuel could be sold, but rather, can we produce a 
supply sufficient to satisfy the demand ? 

" The indications are that many large manufac- 
turing and other establishments will, at no distant 
day, produce their own fuel from peat bogs in their 
immediate vicinity. The heaviest class of business 
interests are investigating the subject vigorously; 
there are numerous inquiries for large quantities of 
fuel, to be furnished at once. 

" We believe that the most successful and profit- 
able working of peat beds will be on individual 
account for home use. There are many farmers 
within our own knowledge, who, if they owned a 



APPENDIX 115 

small-sized machine of moderate cost, could work 
peat enough for a year's supply of fuel at less 
expense than they could cut their own wood. Such 
kinds of operations will always produce good 
returns, whatever may be the result of organized 
companies. 

"Railroad companies, manufacturing establish- 
ments, and other large consumers of fuel must be 
supplied, and their requirements are to be met only 
by the product of the fuel on a large scale. 

"This is to be done not by speculative com- 
panies, but by individuals, associations, or com- 
panies, who enter upon and prosecute the 
manufacture of peat fuel as a legitimate business, 
in the same manner as any other manufacturing 
business is conducted, — prudently, systematically, 
and with the proper appliances. 

"The statements of those who have prosecuted 
the business in this manner show conclusively that 
practical operations in the manufacture of peat 
fuel, intelligently and prudently conducted, may 
rank well among the larger and profitable enter- 
prises of the age. 

"We caution the public against all extravagant 
statements of monstrous profits, too large to be 
believed; yet we have excellent reports, of a char- 
acter highly satisfactory, of successes already 
achieved." 



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